Assessment of family planning programme effects on births: Preliminary results obtained through direct matching of birth and programme acceptor records

Abstract In order to match birth and family planning acceptance records and thereby to obtain estimates of pre- and post-acceptance fertility, use is made of seven-digit national identity card numbers, issued to all adult West Malaysians. These unique numbers are recorded on live-birth records and national family planning programme acceptor records of West Malaysian women. The application and preliminary results of this method of direct computer matching of these sets of records for assessing the effects of a family planning programme on fertility are described. Pre- and post-acceptance fertility rates are presented in terms of contraceptive methods used, and the key characteristics of race and age of programme acceptors, and are discussed in terms of marital duration and number of children at the time of acceptance.     

A REGRESSION- TYPE ESTIMATOR IN SAMPLING WITH PPS AND WITH REPLACEMENT

A regression-type estimator is proposed for the population total of a character y , when sample-units are selected with probability proportional to some measure of size z (pps) and with replacement; and the information on yet another variate x is used. The proposed estimator is shown to be superior to the well-known estimator (pps with replacement), and the ratio estimator (pps with replacement). It is also shown to be superior to the simple random estimator under some general conditions.     

Residential Differences in Filial Responsibility Expectations Among Older Persons1

Abstract This study examines variation in filial responsibility expectations-the extent to which adult children are expected to assist and care for their aging parents-among a sample of 440 older persons. The analysis focuses on the relationship of filial responsibility expectations to residential location and tests the hypothesis that older rural residents have higher expectations for assistance from their children than do older urbanites. Current residential location is found to have little impact on expectations, but older persons who were raised in rural areas, particularly on farms, have significantly higher expectations for filial assistance than do older persons from urban backgrounds. Possible consequences of these patterns for the transmission of expectations from parents to children are discussed.     

Statistical morphology

This paper first introduces a parametric model for the generation of stationary random correlated binary sequences. The parameters of the model include the probability that a pixel is a binary one pixel and the length of the structuring element which dilates the initially spatially uncorrelated sequence. The spatial statistics of such eroded, dilated, opened and closed correlated binary sequences are derived in terms of the spatial statistics of the input binary sequence. Understanding of such one-dimensional processing is a precondition for understanding what happens in the more interesting two- dimensional case.     

Cost containment in health care: a model for management research.

Cost containment is a dominant problem in the health care field, but it has not been addressed from a comprehensive management perspective. To fill this gap, we have developed an inclusive model of the cost containment process. The model has implications for management research in several areas: cost containment baselines, incentive systems, organization structures, cost/quality trade-offs, and cost containment constraints.     

A comparison of alternative rate estimators in some frequently used growth models

This paper deals with the linear, exponential and Gompertz models and compares the bias and variance of a number of estimators of the growth-rate parameters of these models. Some of these estimators have been commonly recommended in the literature and others are most frequently used in empirical practice. The present analysis points to the strengths and weaknesses of the estimators in their usage.